How Taylor Swift's presidential endorsement 'put an exclamation point on a good night' for Harris-Walz

It's a cruel September for the Trump campaign.

Following the Republican presidential candidate's first debate against Kamala Harris this election cycle, superstar Taylor Swift announced on Instagram that she plans to vote for Democratic nominees Harris-Walz come November.

The morning after the debate, The New Yorker's Vinson Cunningham and Tyler Foggatt join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to unpack the megawatt surprise endorsement, and what influence it might hold.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: There's this idea that J.D. Vance is such a gaffe machine on this campaign. The idea that Taylor would sign her endorsement with "childless cat lady," in reference to a J.D. Vance comment that he made a few weeks ago — I can imagine if you're Donald Trump you're like, you did it again, J.D. You really gave the other side some weapons to use here.

The last few days have been particularly fraught for Swifties because Taylor Swift has been photographed with Brittany Mahomes. She's the wife of Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and there was this speculation that Brittany is a Trump supporter. We don't know whether she is or not, but we know that Trump personally has thanked her on social media many times. How do you think the Brittany Mahomes side plot figures into Taylor Swift's decision to endorse?

Tyler: There's definitely the narrative that part of the reason why she endorsed so quickly, rather than doing something at the Eras Tour or further down the line, is that she was getting so much vitriol online for hanging out with a presumed Trump supporter that she kind of had to come out and say something; like, it was starting to be a PR crisis.

But I think the other thing is that hanging out with Brittany Mahomes and showing that she doesn't actively detest people who might be Republican or who might like Trump, I think it's actually something that'll help the endorsement go further. These strategists were talking about how an endorsement just does so much more when the person who is endorsing seems somewhat apolitical. And so I think that even though Swift made a documentary a few years ago coming out as a Democrat and endorsed Biden and Harris in 2020, the fact that she was hanging out with someone who is allegedly a Trump supporter right before endorsing just makes her seem more apolitical and more reasonable, honestly. She's like us. It's like she can have Thanksgiving dinner with her Trump-supporting uncle, but still vote for Harris. And so I think that'll speak to people.

Elamin: Vinson, I don't know what your relationship is to the Taylor Swift universe. Tyler and I are both on the record as gigantic Swifties. But I'm going to ask you about the timing, because this debate had barely ended and then she drops this endorsement. She did a similar thing at the Grammys: all these artists are getting their flowers, and then she chooses that moment to announce that she's releasing a new album. And she got a lot of criticism for that. There is something about Taylor Swift that sort of lends itself to the accusation that she's sucking up all the oxygen in the room. Do you think that applies here? Like, is there something to be said for letting Kamala have her post-debate moment and then announcing the next day?

Vinson: Well, I found that weird from not the Swift perspective, but from the Harris perspective — specifically, wondering whether this was done in coordination with the Harris campaign. To do it directly after the debate speaks to some level of coordination that I would love to know more about. I don't know if we'll ever get that information. But still, it's not September 21st, so this is technically still a "cruel summer."... And so I think she is someone who can sort of notice moments.

This is her great gift — the gift of timing, you know? That she not only knows the power of her voice, but when it is most powerfully deployed. To me, it seems maybe good. Here's a debate where we can say, I think most people think [Harris] won, but that doesn't mean that there's an avalanche in the polls that's happening. So maybe to put an exclamation point on a good night is a good use of the resource that is Taylor Swift.

Elamin: Immediately after the debate, the Harris campaign started selling friendship bracelets. And so it certainly gives off the impression that this was coordinated. What do you make of the timing? Do you think she's stealing Kamala's thunder, or do you think she's sort of adding to the push?

Tyler: I think she's adding to it. I think this was unequivocally a positive thing for Harris. And I totally agree with Vinson…. I feel like my takeaway from the post was, 1) Taylor Swift is endorsing Kamala Harris, and 2) Kamala Harris totally won the debate. And I think that a lot of people, even if they're not necessarily fans of Taylor Swift and aren't the kind of voters to be moved by her in a genuine way, I think that they walk away with this feeling that clearly Harris won, or else would arguably the most famous person in the world be endorsing her directly after her encounter with Trump?

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jess Low.